Two standard Earth times later, that is, around 6 p.m. on February 19, Augustus, who had been standing in the command island of the command center for more than ten hours, heard the rumble of cannons, like thunder.
At this time of February, it gets dark particularly quickly. Lead-colored clouds accumulate in the sky above Martinborough, and there are sometimes bright orange flashes on the black dome, which are spacecraft and fighter planes that have fallen from high-altitude orbits.
.
The sound of artillery could only come from Alpha Squadron, because the Revolutionary Army did not have fully-organized railguns, howitzers or other artillery units. All they could rely on were power armor and Gauss rifles.
"How is the situation of the fleet? Corporal Faraday." Augustus looked at the battle map on the projection screen and took a deep breath.
"According to the information sent back by the flagship of the Second Fleet, the Hyperion shot down the Alpha Squadron Yekaterina, and the Norad III and the remaining seven battlecruisers severely damaged the Napoleon and Jackson V, forcing them to
The flagship Norad III used a tactical jump to evade." The person speaking was not Corporal Faraday, but Sarah Kerrigan, who was always accompanying Augustus.
Hearing Kerrigan speak, Augustus remembered that Corporal Faraday had been sent by him to take charge of the defense work outside Martin's Fortress. Although the place was impregnable and heavily defended, the automatic locking system of the numerous anti-aircraft missile towers tightly blocked Martin.
over the fortress, but Augustus also had to defend Alpha Squadron's airborne troops.
"...well done." said Augustus. "What are our losses?"
"The middle deck of the Norad II was penetrated, and some people died. The other battlecruisers just need to be re-armored and repainted." Kerrigan said: "Our battleships are still chasing Duke's
The new flagship Norad III, it is only a matter of time before we shoot it down."
"Tell my captains to expand the victory before the other battlecruisers of Alpha Squadron return to support." Augustus ordered: "After the battle is over, use tugs to tow the battleships of Alpha Squadron back to the port immediately. Don't waste any time."
It's a tiny screw. Now that we are so poor and can only be scavengers and garbage collectors in the interstellar world, every abandoned warship means far more to us than before."
"And - tell my soldiers that Marshal Augustus Mengsk is proud of them."
Kerrigan nodded and wrote them down one by one. At this time, Kerrigan had already replaced the new equipment from Yumoyan. Her dark black soluble tights were inlaid with bronze plastic alloy armor, chest, abdomen, small
The arms and shins are fully protected, and this attire makes his iconic long fiery red hair even more eye-catching.
Just as he was talking, the holographic projection screen in front of Augustus suddenly reappeared on the portrait of Tychus Finley. The picture came from the camera of his CMC powered armor helmet. The lens was shaking, and it was obvious that Tychus was running.
"Tychus Finlay called the command center, I... Mengsk, behind me were at least two brigades of Alpha Squadron. We ran for a day and a night, and the oil in the personnel carriers and assault vehicles was all empty.
- This is a desert, there is no place to refuel, so we have to throw them all away." The image of Tychus Finley seems to be inseparable from cold beer and cigars, and the inside of his power armor is always filled with smoke.
The armor's internal air circulation system is like a lung damaged by smoke.
"Fortunately, their car ran out of gas, so they had to run."
"From north to south, from the capital area to Lorenzana to the sandworm desert to the desolate canyon, there is no high-energy gas refinery. I have already figured it out. Didn't you listen when the combat meeting was held?"
One month before the battle on the battlefield, Augustus led Corporal Faraday and Kerrigan to conduct an on-site inspection of the terrain, and finally made a battle plan after careful consideration.
"Is there such a thing?" Tychus was not impressed. After all, he had been catching up on sleep during the meeting.
"Just treat it like that." He didn't care about it: "Okay, I'm leading the people of Alpha Squadron into the encirclement."
"Haha, are you ready for falconry? When I catch Edmund Duke, I will clip off his wings and stuff him into a chicken coop."
"This is exactly what I want to do," Augustus said.
"Our feud with Alpha Squadron is not that easy to end." Tychus chuckled: "I heard that you are planning to give Duke a cabinet position - no matter why a republic has a cabinet. Let me tell you, you don't care
Give a venomous snake any favors, and sooner or later it will bite you. The best way is to chop off its head and pickle it with salt."
"I know you actually understand this better than I do. What you want is not Duke but his Alpha Squadron."
"Promise high officials and generous salaries." Augustus said: "We can use this method to win over many people."
"And Duke does have his advantages. Although he is bad enough, he is also ruthless enough."
"Or do you want a position in the cabinet, Tychus."
"Come on, you haven't even thought about this before Mar Sara is independent." Tychus smiled: "If you ask me, after the Tyranid Federation is overthrown, I will open a small bar in Tarsonis.
, raise some ‘daughters’, and the rest will be ridiculous, yes, I like that.”
Augustus had long known that Tychus was a bastard, so he was not surprised at all by what he said.
"Hi, I'm Jim. My people are approaching the desolate canyon. There is an abandoned mining outpost in my 055° direction. I think that is the scheduled assembly point." At this time, Jim Raynor's avatar appeared, and his
The avatar frame soon occupied half of the holographic projection screen, squeezing out Tychus's position like a bubble.
"Our concealment measures are very good, and we have not encountered any reconnaissance aircraft or reconnaissance troops of Alpha Squadron. The space stations and satellites in orbit have been paralyzed by electromagnetic interference, making it impossible to detect us," Renault said.
"Hell, I never thought that the artifact dug out from the corridors of Purgatory could still be used like this," he said.
"Ah? This thing is much more effective than any electromagnetic interference device. It will paralyze any human communication equipment."
"The disadvantage is that this is a double-edged sword, and our ships will also be affected." Augustus said.
Augustus ordered Rory Swann to build an artifact spaceship specifically for the Xel'Naga artifact fragments, which can amplify the disturbing magnetic field generated by the artifact fragments to interfere with the other party's communications. Of course, the drawback is the revolution within its scope
The military will also be affected.
For the time being, the Revolutionary Army cannot discover more uses for the Xel'Naga artifact fragments.
"I am Lundstein, and my troops have arrived at the Desolate Canyon X-53565 outpost." At this time, the head of another revolutionary army general appeared.
"I am Mira." Mirahan's avatar occupies a quarter of the main screen: "Fight for the revolutionary army!"
"You don't need to shout this every time, Mira." Augustus smiled.
"The political commissar and captain around me all said so." Mira laughed loudly. No one knew what the point of Mira's laughter was, but she was laughing so hard that she was out of breath.
"Okay, repeat your task." Augustus moved his finger across the screen, and a plan of the desolate canyon appeared on the screen. The entrance was wide, and the deeper it went, the narrower it became, like the cross-section of a beer bottle.
"I will lead Duke into the canyon, and together with Harnak's fire bat troops, we will block the Alpha Squadron that goes deep into the canyon at the bottleneck," Tychus said.
"And we will enter the canyon after that and attack from behind Duke." Renault and others said in unison.
"Flannel attack from front to back." Tychus said: "You know I like to play like this."